Channar Payesh | Paneer Payesh Recipe

Channar Payesh/Paneer Payesh is a traditional delectable Bengali sweet dish prepared with channa/paneer/cottage cheese and milk and flavored with cardamom powder. A slightly twisted version of regular payesh. Payesh is nothing but a kind of kheer or milk pudding. In West Bengal, it is usually prepared on festive occasions like Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali and so on. It can also be served as a dessert. But it tastes so heavenly, it can be relished at any time.😊 Homemade paneer works best. But if you are running out of time you can use the store-bought one instead. It is a gluten free recipe. Low-fat milk can also be used to make it lighter. So let’s make this lip-smacking payesh.

INGREDIENTS:

For Paneer

1-liter milk1/2 cup curd1 thin cheesecloth

For Payesh

200 grams paneer/cottage cheese

1-liter milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon freshly made green cardamom powder

10 cashews

10 raisins

For Garnishing

Few chopped pistachios

INSTRUCTIONS:

To make the paneer

Heat milk in a pan.

Once milk starts boiling. Reduce the flame and add curd little by little and gently stir until the milk begins to curdle or milk and water separate. Turn off the flame.

Strain the curdled milk in a cheesecloth and place a heavy weight on it to remove excess water and leave it for 20 minutes.

Now paneer is ready just crumble the paneer with your hand and set it aside.

To prepare the payesh

Heat milk in a wide nonstick pan or wide thick bottomed pan. As it helps the milk to evaporate quickly.

Once the milk starts boiling, reduce the flame to low-medium. Let the milk cook until it reduces to 1/3 of its original quantity with stirring occasionally. In between scrape the sides to collect the thickened layer.